Diabetics Are Hacking Their Own Insulin PumpsDiabetics Are Hacking Their Own Insulin Pumps

There is a revolution in the Type 1 diabetes community and thousands of people are now hacking their insulin pumps for better blood sugar management. CNBC's Erin Black, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 20 years ago, decided to try out the hacked system. Here's what happened.
Type 1 diabetes is a disease that affects more than 1.2 million Americans. I'm one of them.
It's a disease that impairs the body's ability to produce the hormone insulin, which normally comes from the pancreas. So insulin has to be injected.
Managing blood sugars can be very difficult, and patients use a pump to help mimic the activity of the pancreas. However, pumps don't automatically adjust insulin levels for diabetics. And the manual process is tedious and can be dangerous.
But a few years ago, people figured out how to hack their insulin pumps to make them automatically adjust insulin levels more precisely.
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Hacking Diabetes With This DIY Artificial Pancreas

Comments

Kit Bear : So these guys developed a open sourced hands free insulin pump for $150, big pharma came along, stole their idea, closed the development loopholes and went to FDA for approval then massively jacked up the price. Only in America!

Mr JAG : Can’t believe the price of the FDA approved pump. $7000

Timmy Joe PC Tech : Why the FKKKKK is something that actually costs 150 dollars + a smart phone being sold for $7000. I'm sure an Iphone has more tech in it than this thing and it's only a grand, plus you can buy it on contract and pay monthly. THE UNITED STATES MEDICAL SYSTEM RAPES PEOPLE IN NEED

xXYannuschXx : Gotta love how he shot himself: "It's like modifying your car"
So basically: "If you know what you are doing, you are safe."
Sounds good to me. :)

Jack Deakins : Dude wtf I live in finland and we've had this for so long but you don't need to hack anything. I have a pump that does everything itself...

Punjabi : The car modification thing was a bad analogy

ajkdhsalfgnewidpcvjcjqd8w9agvespfld]j cmkpiwsgxq : I'm all for free markets but 7k for a life-saving device to fix a chronic disease? I thought the reason for a government to exist was to care of it's citizens since a healthy worker is a productive one.

murdelabop : The manufacturer warns against using the hacked systems because doing so might interfere with their profit margin.

Joselerio M : That white man speaking on behalf of the pump co is a corporate shill he doesn t want people to save money. People modify their cars daily and are absolutely fine.

First Name : Sometimes I think a cure for cancer has already been created but was thrown away because it's more profitable to treat then to cure

Nathan Johnson : Of course Medtronic doesn’t want you to use it, why would they want you to use an $150 system that works perfectly fine when you could just give them $7000 for the same thing! I don’t even know why they asked big pharmas opinion in the first place

fahlenbock : 7k..... wtf is wrong with the government, that should be given out for free.

JohntechFL : $150 DIY, $7000 to do it by big Pharma. This highlights everything wrong with US medical care.

Simple 1i : The hacked system is true innovation, without risks there is little innovation. The FDA is a business, a very high risk business that risks human life for profits.

lsulsu : I’ve been using the system described for 1.5 years and it’s much better than anything commercially available.

Uncle Phil : In this video: government enforced monopolies increase costs by 600%

John Carlson : Government will no doubt try to shut the hack down and make it against the law.

LagiNaLangAko23 : LOL they patched the exploit and then sold a product similar to the hack!

Destiny Fucker : the ajit pai of diabetes pumps, mike hill, tells you why you need and should buy his more expensive brick instead of the less expensive one that does the exact same thing but he doesn't get any money for
hmmmmmmmmm

jholotan best : This is a good example why American healthcare system is the worst in the world.

Colin Jensen : NBC is still using “hacking” as a scare word. Everyone under the age of 70 wants to plug their pump into their computer, duh! There’s nothing evil about that, especially when the alternative is death. Eventually this will be approved by the FDA, but only after all the advanced buttons are taken away so it’s foolproof. But not all of us are fools, Omnipod / Medtronic.

Apocalypse487 : Yeah, car mods are not equivalent to insulin.
Any person who talks like car mods are bad is usually pretty ignorant. People having been modding cars forever.

Austin A : Would you rather get up to start and tend to a fire to keep the house warm, or set a thermostat to keep a temperature throughout the day? It's the same thing with diabetes

Aditya Kadam : I can buy a brand new hatchback for 7000$ in India..

Vod MacDuff : It's 7000 because they know that they can get that much from insurance companies.

yellowbusguy : We don't like your DYI stuff because we can't charge a stupid amount for it. 7
grand is a criminal asking price.

Cleber Machado : It’s funny how the doctor made his disclaimer, then... “having said that...” and then what a doctor should say! It’s working and a pharmaceutical company didn’t make billions of dollars on it!!!!!!!!!! 🙌🏼

Roar Me : Stole the idea and act like it was their idea and profit from it

Vaughn Billy : It's a shame the big pharma companies knows all this,but in there interests of making money over people's health is unnecessary

Ironside Support : even if the DiY loop doesnt work right away they can manually dose until its accurate.
I'm glad software programmers and engineers came together to make a affordable pump for diabetics

Napert360ggTGpl : A $150 diy hack
Fda - THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DANGEROUS
$7000 brick that does exactly the same thing
Fda - this is fine

Ramy : Excellent! Shameful big pharma for their Greed.

Kenchan1337 : just to inform all of you who don't know:
the $7000 for a pump is nothing compared to the equipment costs for everything else you need to measure your blood sugar level for example.
the cost for the pump is a joke compared to the total cost.

1creeperbomb M : Ok first off I had no idea pumps aren't automated, second $7000 wth??? Thank god for the community.
Edit: we should make an opensource pump, like literally an opensource hardware project

Michael Black : since when do we trust the FDA?

Sheal Berube : "it's almost like modifying your car" uh no, it's because you want to make your 7k per unit...the DIY is way cheaper at 150/200 $
Hence the reason why they are also trying to close the back door on the new devices as well.
EDIT: Thanks for all the thumbs up and comments!

vanhende : F! yes, cybernetics.. chrome me op.
go transhumanism.

Tommy Futangolango : I don’t understand why the medical industry has not done this before

Peter Rabitt : Big Pharma = GREED.

Eemil Kangas-Korhonen : In short, USA is a horrible place to live.

Linus Cleveland : That guy couldnt have made it more obvious that he’s never even opened the hood on his car once

DM Wanderer : $150 to do it yourself.
$7000 for your doctor to do it.
That's more than 40x more expensive, won't be surprised if these were made illegal.

IIIrandomIII : 4:19 his consciously hyped body language is so interesting to watch...

johnnymcblaze : If this isn't proof that doctors, corperations and government aren't against we, the people. I just dont know what is.

Elena M : America has great healthcare and technology. So good no one can buy it.

bluzshadez : God bless that family for sharing to the World their hacked Artificial Pancreas. Having had a relationship with an IDDM/Type 1 for almost seven years, I am so amazed by how advanced injecting has become. I hope that hacked system gets approved. Such gadget will save even more lives.

MrAustinpen : We gonna pump you up

SMAKS EM SILLIFIED : As usual, the free market and competition always drive for better and cheaper products.
The manufacturer probably would have had no hurry to add this new technology in such a hurry if not for the hack others were using.
Sadly, since there isn't much competition the prices are out of this world.
If we can get more competition or get the FDA to approve these apps to run these devices and people can buy these DIY on a larger market we will most likely see the FDA approved devices drop dramatically.
Nothing drives innovation and low prices like competition and reward of wealth for the innovations.